1.) Suggest a minimum of 3 instructional methods which might motivate the learners to learn. Use references to support your statement.
- Hands-on Learning through Field Trips is a great way to get students excited about learning and involved in their learning. What could possibly be more motivating than a field trip? Students love field trips and have no idea most of the time that they are actually going to be learning something on these trips. Virtual field trips are a great way to give students the same exposure as field trips without the cost. These are done right in the classroom and give students and teachers the opportunity to travel to areas of the world that couldn’t be done in a real field trip setting.
- Differentiated Instruction is a very important instructional method. “Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.” (Tomlinson, 2012). It is very important to change instruction and not keep it the same per year, per lesson, or per student. All students learn differently and through differentiated instruction, you can meet each of their needs.
- Dramatic Play through Reader’s Theatres can be either beneficial or non-beneficial for students. Some students will love the aspect of reader’s theatre which is “a joint dramatic reading from a text, usually with no memorization, no movement and a minimum of props.” (Instructional, 2009). It usually involved choral reading with multiple students and is a great way to bring the text to life.
2.) From your personal experience, share an undesirable incident which the good methods (tools) had been applied to the inappropriate situations (No references are required). What would you propose to do to redirect the specific situation you mentioned above to make learning easier, quicker, and more enjoyable? Please provide references to support your statement.
Lots of times, technology is thrown into a lesson as a filler instead of as a significant addition to the lesson. Oftentimes, teachers have to have some form of technology in a lesson and tend to throw a video in that isn’t needed to add to the lesson. I have also seen where when students were a bit rambunctious and not settling down to do lessons, teachers have made them to do a quiet activity when something that was more on their activity level, like an exciting form of reader’s theatre or role-playing could have been a better function to fit their energy levels.
Some activities that can be incorporated with larger, high energy classes.
- Small group discussions: Use topics related to a theme, or ask students to submit topic suggestions.
- Who Am I?: Tape the name of a famous person to the back of each student. Students go around the room asking questions and trying to identify themselves. Once they guess who they are they can place their nametag on the front and continue helping other students identify themselves.
- Team spelling contests: Each student who gets the spelling correct gets a point for their team.
- Balderdash: Large class can be split into teams. Teacher calls out a word and students have to write down the part of speech and definition. Each student to get both correct gets a point for her team.
- Write the question: Large class can be split into teams. The teacher calls out an answer and the students have to write the question. (ex. "
Lynn - Questionnaires: Students circulate around the room asking each other questions. Students can create their own questions on a given topic or theme, or you can provide the questionnaire handout. Follow up by asking each student to report the most interesting answer they received.
- Categories: The teacher calls out a category, such as fruit, and each student has to name a fruit when it is his turn. If a student hesitates for more than five seconds, he or she has to choose a new category and sit out the rest of the game. The last person to get out wins. (Teaching, 2012).
Resources:
Instructional Strategies Online, (2009). Saskatoon Public Schools. Retrieved from: http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/alpha.html
Teaching Large Classes (2012). EnglishClub.com. Retrieved from http://www.englishclub.com/teaching-tips/teaching-large-classes.htm
I agree with with your field trip approach whether its physically or virtually available. At my school we do mostly virtual since we have no money for such outside learning. We’ve used United Streaming, Google Earth, and other simulations that offer tours and lectures. The students do enjoy when these activities are related to the instruction. However, sometimes just the fun of being out of school is a greater reward. It makes the experience more tangible and memorable since the students can use more of their senses while learning. I do wish our district budgeted for field trips.
ReplyDeleteI also use differential instruction based on my learner types and the task at hand. In math, there is always more than one way to solve a problem. As long as the student gets the correct answer by making the process their own, I believe they get a more personable relationship with that instruction.
I personally am an introverted person and don’t consciously do dramatic play through readers theaters. However, I do sometimes find myself saying phrases and slang that relates to the students and we make that lesson our own that way. Whether its from a commercial, song, MTV (yes I am guilty); just making that connection/bond with the students, I find, increases their motivation and engagement in the instruction.
At the beginning of my teaching career, I found myself becoming so frazzled when a lesson was not received efficiently by the students. I began compiling my notes over the years by adding manipulatives and programs to certain lessons to be sure I had a Plan B-D. I believe being prepared like this and going with the flow of the learners is so much easier than fighting them over the “only” way.
My classes are definitely high energy (organized chaos), I loved how you mentioned some activities. I do quite a few myself; team spelling contest, write a question (jeopardy), and questionnaires (create crosswords with education.com). I also include small group discussions but methodically pair the group to ensure beneficial results.
I love reader's theatre with little kids... it's so much fun. And virtual field trips with Google Earth are so easy and the kids love them. Connecting to the students is great. In the prekindergarten class I did student teaching in, I showed them a clip of the cartoon Dinosaur Train that went along with a lesson I was doing and they LOVED it. Finding those connections and using them I think is the most important part of planning. And organized chaos is the best way to teach. I observed in a 1st grade classroom with a teacher that would not allow the students to speak AT ALL and they could only use the 8 basic colors, it was crazy structured. I like the kids to be able to put in their own style to everything especially since kids, even at the age of 4 have such different personalities.
DeleteLauren, I totally agree about fieldtrips and dramatic play. I need one of my students with ADHD to learn the numbers 0-10, so i have her go around the room and find them to demonstrate she knows. i think it's important to remember that not all kids will be able to do paper and pencil tasks. That's why I believe technology really can make the difference to this subgroup of students.
ReplyDeleteMerriam, your comments just spoke to me tonight. When you said you got "frazzled when a lesson was not received efficiently by the students." I am a special ed teacher and my students receive 60 minutes of inclusion in General ed. Just today I had a teacher challenge me today about my student not getting anything out of his time in general ed. Please keep in mind that my students are low IQ, but high talent and have skills. I posted on my Facebook, "To the world you may be one person, but to that one person you may be the world."I believe I make a difference!
Kimber, I definitely believe you make a difference... it only takes one spectacular teacher to change the life of a student!!
DeleteI'm at home with my 2 year old right now, and I use a lot of kinesthetic ways to get her to learn stuff, of course she says "1, 2, 5", but she does already have one-to-one correspondence!! :) I definitely think that best things with students, especially young students or special education students are hands on, kinesthetic learning. Something about actually touching the object just "speaks to them".
Lauren, can we replace any kind of multimedia method to the list you provide for the high energy classes?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really like doing with active classrooms is game using the smartboard, like playing bean bag toss type games with jeopardy or Dance Dance Revolution type games. Also, centers are a great way to give rambunctious students something to do that is both fun and educational.
DeleteI have tried things like having them watch a video or goign to the computer lab... but during times where they are "hyped up", this is not the best option. They will talk and cut up during the video and not really pay attention to what they are doing on the computer in the computer lab.